Scott Adamson, Author at Adamsonmedia.com

Tezino embraces the grind

Linebackers are sometimes called “quarterbacks of the defense,” and Birmingham Stallions hitman Kyahva Tezino has certainly been a vocal leader in that role.

It’s no surprise, then, that he harbors dreams of calling plays on both sides of the ball – once his playing career is over.

**Scott Adamson writes stuff. Follow him on Threads @sladamson1960 and Adamsonmedia on Facebook.**

“If you’re a player wherever you go, you try to take a little from each coach and see what you can put in your coaching style one day,” Tezino said on Wednesday. “I think whenever it’s my time to coach, I’ll use what I’ve learned from (Birmingham head coach Skip Holtz) all the way to my Pop Warner coach and take it forward.”

At age 26, the United Football League standout has plenty of time to plan for his next vocation.

Right now, though, Tezino’s mind is focused on stopping the Michigan Panthers.

Not only do the Stallions (8-1) play the Panthers (7-2) in a Week 10 matchup, they’ll face them again a week later in the USFL Conference Championship Game.

Both contests will be played at Protective Stadium.

Birmingham won a Week 2 matchup with the Panthers, 20-13, at Ford Field in Detroit.

Tezino had five tackles and an assist in that contest, one that saw the winners limit Michigan to just 205 yards of total offense.

“It’s hard to beat a team three times,” he said. “But it can be done. Last year I was with the (Pittsburgh) Maulers and we beat Michigan three times, so it just comes down to the kind of want you have. You’ve got to know the situation. Somebody might say this is a ‘waste week’ or a game where we see what they do for next week, but I think we know what we’re playing for, and that’ll help us for this week.”

Through nine games with Birmingham, Tezino leads the team with 65 tackles (37 assisted), and also has a half sack as well as four pass break-ups. Among all UFL defenders, he ranks fourth in number of tackles.

As a senior at San Diego State University, Tezino was an Honorable Mention All-American as well as First Team All-Mountain West Selection. In five seasons as an Aztec, he made 148 solo tackles, assisted on 140 more, had 14.5 sacks and also picked off a pair of passes.

His single-game best was a 17-tackle showing against Army in 2017.

The 6-0, 235-pounder was taken by Pittsburgh in the 31st round of the 2022 United States Football League Draft.

During the 2023 season with the Maulers, he had 94 tackles (54 solo) and two interceptions. Stallions fans might recall he led Pittsburgh with 11 tackles in a 28-12 loss to Birmingham in the USFL Championship Game.

A year earlier in the Maulers’ debut campaign, he registered 55 individual takedowns and 70 in all.

Tezino was signed by the San Francisco 49ers last year before being waived in August, and originally entered the NFL after signing with the New England Patriots as an undrafted rookie free agent on April 27, 2020. Following his release three months later, he inked a deal with the Carolina Panthers as a practice squad player but was let go on August 16, 2020.

With designs on getting back to the NFL – something he hopes to do before transitioning to coaching – that means there are no off days. Week 11 has much higher stakes than Week 10, but Tezino has no plans to take it easy in the first of a two-game set.

“With a 10-week regular season you don’t have a bye week, so if you make the championship, you play 12 games straight games,” Tezino said. “But everybody knows that, and everybody is trying to get to the NFL, so you just have to take your soreness with a grain of salt.”

Saturday’s game is set for 1 p.m. and can be seen on ESPN and listened to on ESPN Xtra on SiriusXM.

Road trip

“Holy hell!”

Blake laughed nervously and buzzed down the driver’s side window.

“Sorry,” he said. “But you scared the shit out of me.”

“Well,” Dana said, “You can’t get a higher compliment than that. Anyway, I was just wondering if the offer to ride with you still stood.”

With all the cars lined up as people tried to evacuate the city, it was just a stroke of luck that Blake and Dana had made eye contact and struck up a conversation a few minutes earlier.

“Absolutely,” said Blake. “But don’t you have a suitcase or something?”

Dana nodded.

“Actually, I had it sent ahead so it’s already at my friend’s apartment in Douglas,” she said. “Everything else is in my backpack. If you don’t mind, though, I’d like to put it in the trunk.”

Blake popped the trunk open and placed the backpack on top of his suitcase. He then walked around the side of the car and opened the door for Dana.

“Don’t worry,” she said. “I can get it.”

“Maybe, maybe not,” Blake said. “This door sticks, so, you know …”

Blake was nervous – it was hard to tell who to trust anymore – but he had a gut feeling that Dana was a kindred spirit. As they settled into the vehicle, he gripped the steering wheel and pulled off onto a side road … acutely aware that his palms were sweaty.

And while he made a point not to stare at Dana – which would’ve been a bad idea anyway because of that whole driving thing – she had beautiful brown eyes that seemed capable of actually smiling.

Her skin was eggshell white and she smelled of patchouli, which he thought of as something of a “comfort scent” since it reminded him of his home in Clearlake.

With miles and miles of talking ahead of them, that seemed to be as good a conversation starter as any.

“Is that patchouli you’re wearing?” Blake asked. “I’m not trying to be pervy or anything, it’s just back home there was a guy who made patchouli soap and used to sell it downtown during weekends. It reminds me of fall.”

“Thanks,” she said. “A lot of people don’t like it … it makes them think I’m a hippie or something. Which maybe I am now, I don’t really know. Probably doesn’t even matter at this point.”

“I secretly always wanted to be a hippie,” Blake said. “I could just never commit to the lifestyle, I suppose. Still, there’s a lot to be said for getting high and hugging trees and kissing bunnies. I wish those things were still an option.”

It wasn’t long before Blake realized talking to Dana was like talking to an old friend he had just reconnected with after years apart. And she seemed to enjoy the banter as well. With some of his friends already captured and killed, it was comforting to find an adventurous spirit.

In the first 100 miles of their journey, the vast majority of the country’s problems had already been cussed and discussed. When the topics turned less serious, Blake shared the origin story of all of his pets, and Dana had confessed that – while in her mid-20s – she was the lead singer for a retro punk band called Spurious George.

What had started as a solo road trip to a new life was solo no more, but Blake had no complaints. He could barely remember the last time he’d had a conversation with a woman. Hell, he could barely remember the last time he had a conversation with anything that wasn’t covered in fur and had four legs.

“So, what was it like where you were,” Blake asked. “Had they taken over your entire town?”

“Pretty much,” Dana said. “They’d come in waves. I usually stayed inside during the day, snuck out when I could at night to get food. Then – like you, I guess – I just figured I’d take a chance. If I went north, maybe I could get away from them. That’s what I kept hearing.”

“Same,” Blake said. “Where I was, a lot of the people decided to go along to get along and sometimes you might go a whole day without seeing one of those bastards. But I’m not gonna live like that. I realize I don’t have all that many sunrises left, anyway, but I have no desire to be controlled by monsters the rest of my life.”

The pair drove in silence for the next hour, until Dana pointed to a road sign that read, “Douglas. 30 Miles.”

“Well,” Dana said. “If you stay at this speed, we should be at my friend’s apartment in half an hour. And it really looks like clear sailing, doesn’t it? It’s just like everyone was saying … the further north we drive, the further away from danger we get.”

Blake was apprehensive, but hopeful. While information was spotty and not always reliable, there was a good chance that once they reached Douglas, they’d be out of harm’s way and have easy access to the hundreds of rescue crafts that were situated there.

At that point, it would all be up to the aliens – and how many humans they’d be willing to liberate from the occupying army.

Stallions look to bounce back

**Anthony McFarland runs against the Birmingham Stallions at the Alamodome on May 25.**/ Photo by Ronald Cortes/UFL/Getty Images

To say it’s been a trying couple of weeks for the Birmingham Stallions would be a bit of an understatement.

For openers, the 2024 Stallions won’t be joining the 1965 Charleston Rockets or the 1972 Miami Dolphins as professional football teams that went through an entire season with a perfect record.

Last Saturday’s 18-9 loss to the San Antonio Brahmas made sure of that, snapping a 15-game winning streak in the process.

“The San Antonio game was a tough loss,” Birmingham coach Skip Holtz said on Tuesday. “You know, any loss is tough, but especially your first one of the year. I’m just glad we got to wait until the ninth week. We had a good run going, and I think we’ve had some success along the way.”

For two games the team found itself short one coach, with defensive coordinator John Chavis sidelined by illness before the game against the Houston Roughnecks and now no longer with the club.

Corey Chamblin has taken over the DC role and Anthony Blevins has been added to the staff.

“Nobody wants to go through what we’re going through,” Holtz said. “Two weeks ago, when John was dealing with a medical issue and he missed the game, we tried to put band aids on it to get through. We were fortunate in the Houston game (a 35-28 victory on May 18) that we were able to score enough points to win. But you’re also coaching a coach down, and you only have three coaches on defense.

“And the role that Corey was playing when Coach Chavis was calling the defense was echoing the calls of the secondary, getting the personnel groups and getting your different packages in on defense. There was nobody there to take that role.”

Enter Blevins.

Last summer – before the USFL and XFL announced their merger – he was tapped as the new head coach of the XFL Vegas Vipers. But when the Vipers found themselves among seven other spring clubs that were not absorbed by the United Football League, Blevins was out of a job.

“Anthony has a Birmingham background, he has a spring league background, he’s got a huge pedigree in the NFL with special teams, defense and linebackers … he just fit the bill,” Holtz said.

Blevins was a member of Watson Brown’s first recruiting class at UAB in 1995, and had five tackles in a 29-0 loss to Auburn on August 31, 1996 – UAB’s first game as a member of the NCAA’s top division.

The Pleasant Grove product was part of the Bill Walsh Diversity Coaching Fellowship Program with the Chicago Bears (2008), Arizona Cardinals (2010) and Indianapolis Colts (2011).

And Blevins also managed to get a PhD in instructional systems and workforce development at Mississippi State in 2015, meaning the Stallions now have a doctor on their defensive staff.

Holtz admits his team’s psyche could use a bit of healing heading into Saturday’s matchup with the Michigan Panthers (7-2) at Protective Stadium.

“They’re disappointed, they’re upset and probably a little bit angry, which is all good because I feel like we got their attention and I’m looking forward to a great practice today and getting ready for a tight contested matchup this week,” Holtz said.

Despite the loss to the Brahmas and upheaval on the staff, Birmingham is hardly stuck on a gloom and doom loop.

Still on the table is a chance to join the 1929-31 and 1965-67 Green Bay Packers as pro football three-peaters.

The two-time defending United States Football League champions have the best record in the inaugural season of the UFL at 8-1. And no matter how Saturday’s game turns out, the Stallions and Panthers will square off again a week later at the same venue in the USFL Conference Championship Game.

“We play Michigan back-to-back, which is very unique,” Holtz said. “It’s something that I have not been involved with but something that we’re going through, and we’re putting two game plans together this week.

“We’ll learn some of the things they’re going to be doing to us that we’re going to have to make adjustments for in game two, but we need to come back we need to get back on a winning track.”